La Parrilla On The Water — Restaurant in City of Oswego

We went to La Parrilla for dinner with another couple last night and were very disappointed. We had reservations but definitely didn’t need them. When we arrived, the entire inside section was empty and only half of the tables outdoors were filled. We were seated outdoors and the atmosphere was very nice. The hostess brought us all glasses of water right away and our waitress came and took our drink orders. She came back with our drinks and said that she’d take our appetizer orders, get them started, and be right back to take our meal orders. Before she left, we asked her to refill our water glasses as well. My wife ordered an iced tea and when it came out, it tasted horrible. Our appetizers came out before our waitress ever returned to take our meal orders. We got the chicharrones and latin waffle fries and both were good. When the waitress finally came back around to take our meal order, she completely forgot about refilling our waters, so we asked her again. We also told her about the iced tea tasting bad. She offered to replace it with a new one but my wife decided to just stick to the water instead. I ordered the cannelloni with the daily soup – chicken vegetable. My wife ordered the pollo asado with the side salad. She specifically asked for no onions and the waitress said that she’d request the roasted tomato pico for the pollo asado to be on the side since it had onions in it. One of our friends ordered the broccoli chicken risotto special and her husband ordered the chicken riggies with the daily soup and asked for no mushrooms. The waitress did eventually bring out a small water pitcher so that we could refill our own waters, but there was only enough water in it for one refill each. Staff brought out 3 of our meals and told our friend that his chicken riggies would just be a bit longer. My wife’s chicken was good but the couscous that it came with had onions all throughout it even though she’d requested no onions. Our friend’s risotto was very disappointing, with only 3 very small pieces of chicken and 3 small pieces of broccoli. It definitely wasn’t worth the $20 they charged for it. My cannelloni tasted good, but they were lukewarm. It was over 10 minutes after the 3 initial meals were brought out before our friend’s chicken riggies were brought out. He said that the riggies were good but the daily soup had mushrooms in it, which the waitress didn’t mention when he ordered his meal with no mushrooms. When our waitress finally came back to check on us, we told her about the onions in the couscous. She apologized and said that she’d see if she could get some without onions. She came back quite a while later and said that the couscous is premade and there’s no way to get any without onions. She said the kitchen could do some grilled zucchini as a replacement and my wife accepted. It took another 10-15 minutes for the zucchini to come out. They were very thick slabs that were barely seasoned and were tough to cut because they hadn’t been cooked long enough. At that point, we all decided that we’d had enough and just wanted to pay and leave, but our waitress was nowhere to be found again. We waited almost 10 minutes and still didn’t see her anywhere. One of us finally got up and walked into the indoor section and found her. She said that she’d be right out with our check. We waited almost another 10 minutes before she finally brought it out. To top it all off, they charged us for the iced tea even though we told her it was undrinkable. We didn’t want to wait any longer for her to fix the bill, so we just paid for it and left. Needless to say, we...

I really wanted to enjoy this place, but it just wasn't meant to be on this night. We went on Friday night for the college's family weekend so it was semi busy but nothing crazy. We were sat right away which was nice. However, then we waited nearly 5 minutes for menus because they didn't have enough. Seemed like they are going for a more upscale Mexican fusion type place but missed the mark. The inside that's not directly on the water looked like a Dennys with a bar with the outside similar to a sports bar feel. The music outside was a bit too loud to the point I couldn't hear everyone at my table. Christina was pretty quick with the sodas and waters. We ordered the daily egg rolls and calamari to start. The broccoli, ham, cheddar, and rice egg rolls were good but needed more cheese for the filling, and the sauce didn't compliment them at all. It was like a spicy sweet chili sauce you would get at an Asian restaurant but slightly different. We did not know it was spicy until you dipped into it - not great when you have kids. Recommend servers tell the sauce when announcing the specials. The calamari breading was okay but I it tasted like the fryer needed to be changed. Most of the night was spent waiting for water refills. I also ordered the "house special" chowder that I've seen mentioned in a lot of reviews that the owner defends as highly desired. The flavor was good but not great as far as as New England chowder goes. I'll admit the chorizo is a nice addition but that's as far as it goes for me. It's presented in a large metal bowl with a potato you have to chop up yourself, and the clams in the shell. A very interesting presentation that intrigued me. I prefer a bit thicker of a chowder, which this was not - pretty watery. The clams were bad and past expiration. That was the end of that. Entrees came out and we had to wait 5 minutes for the 2 fish frys to come out after all the other food. Very disappointing since those were the most simple of our order. Trying the fish, again clear the fryer needed changed based on the color and flavor of the breading. On top of the fish frys, one person got the French onion, one got the spiedini, one got the gnocchi, and I got the sirloin steak. I didn't try the spiedini but it looked interesting. The sirloin was cooked correctly, but the zucchini slab was not seasoned and the whole shallot was roasted in something that just made it slimy. The brown brandy cream was more like a gravy than a sauce - very thick but pretty good flavor that tasted like it had gorgonzola or blue cheese in it. My son enjoyed the gnocchi but said there were no meatballs but more a meat sauce. My other son really liked the French onion, but again I have had much better elsewhere. Overall, we would never return here unless we wanted drinks by the water. The other places we've tried in the area have had better service and food in my opinion. If you are looking for someplace for a special dinner, go elsewhere. If you don't mind the full on vice of a hotel restaurant/sports bar, this...

If I could give this place a -zero I would. Saturday night on 9/21 we arrived at the restaurant at 6:20 the place was almost empty. We were a party of 10 7 kids and 4 adults. We asked if we could please seat outside and we were told there was no room outside ( tons of tables available). We sat inside and took two booths. 10 minutes went by and finally the waitress came over. We were ready to order and gave her all the order for both the kids and adults. Drinks and everything. We had kids with us from ages 4-11. Three of the boys played at a baseball tournament and they were starved. About 30 minutes later she showed up with the drinks. 7:30, 7:45 and no food. Kids were getting anxious and cranky because they were tired and hungry. Around 7:50 food for 5 out of the 6 dinner order for the kids came over but one. We waited for another 10 minutes to see if the chicken nuggets and fries arrived and then our waitress finally showed up to ask us “ do you want to order more food” when we told her we didn’t even get the food that we actually order instead of apologizing gave an attitude and stormed away. Then another 10 minutes went by and she came to tell us that one of the appetizers that we ordered “just ran out” when she said that and we asked her how come they ran of that since we had ordered 2 hrs ago? She didn’t have an answer a d she stormed away from the table again. Finally she brought the chicken nuggets and fries. We sat there for 2.5 hrs waiting for something that never came. No one came to apologize or acknowledge the mistake. We asked for the check and she dropped the checks while she was eating food and couldn’t even talk to us. It is unacceptable how we were treated and no one even apologized for what was happening. I called after to see if the manager what’s available and I was told she wasn’t. I asked for the manager’s name and I was told her name was Christine Elle not sure if that is her actual name given that the person on the phone was laughing.

Needless to say, SAVE YOURSELF THE AGGRAVATION and don’t go there. Don’t want to go there specially if you are hungry. I had to go to another restaurant and wait another time for food.

And on top of all... the owner is calling me a liar! I am not sure what you saw but WHY would I lie about something like this? I have 3 other adults that are ready to write the same as I did. NOTHING was discounted. We PAID for the kids meals the 3 beers and the ice tea we ordered. So please feel free so show me the videos and send me an email. I am willing to talk to you but DO NOT CALL ME A LIAR....